Opening the contract up to the public was prompted by opposition to marketing addendum in Tech's PPO

City officials will again examine a potential marketing addendum to the existing purchase power agreement with Texas Tech and TxDOT’s Turn Back program, and all before Christmas.

The Lubbock City Council will meet for the second straight week today, Dec. 19, and a specially called meeting will bring the members together again along with the Electric Utility Board on Friday.

Marketing talk

Both the city and Tech will look at the university’s contract, and this time discussions could be held in the light of public session as Lubbock Power & Light’s governing body will consider waiving the confidentiality restraints of the current contract.

“I talked with (Tech Chancellor Kent Hance), and we both agreed that it’s in everybody’s best interest to just mutually release ourselves from the confidentiality of the (purchase power agreement) because the public wants to know what’s in it,” said Mayor Glen Robertson.

If the waiver is approved by both the Electric Utility Board, all the information in the contract except a list of customers in a specific rate class will be made public, Robertson said.

“We don’t want to release any other customers’ names, so that stuff will be redacted, but the meat of the contract will be available to the public,” he said.

The confidentiality clause was added to the contract when Lubbock’s electric utility market was made up of more than one key player, said City Councilwoman Karen Gibson, but concealment may not be necessary now.

“There is no reason to have any kind of confidentiality now because we aren’t in any kind of a competitive situation,” she said. “I’m on board with it. Let’s open it up; let’s let the public see it. There is no reason to keep it confidential now.”

Removal of the confidentiality clause was prompted by discussions about a proposed marketing addendum to LP&L’s purchase power agreement with Tech.

The university asked to include the contract in the actual purchase power agreement rather than maintaining a separate document, and LP&L’s governing body approved the addendum earlier this month.

Robertson said many of the board members were criticized for their votes in favor of the addendum, but were not able to defend the choice because of confidentiality restraints.

He previously told A-J Media, “It is one of those, that I’m afraid, the public isn’t going to get a very good idea of why they voted the way they did.”

The municipal utility’s first marketing agreement with Tech was a 10-year sponsorship worth about $4.25 million to help build the United Spirit Arena, according to LP&L spokesman Matt Rose.

When the initial advertising contract ended in 2006, so did LP&L’s financial obligations to the university in terms of marketing, but other stand-alone agreements have been made since.

The marketing addition to the renewal of Tech’s purchase power agreement will include an annual sponsorship of the athletics department that will cost $125,000 and escalate 5 percent each year until the contract ends in 2019.

Because LP&L doesn’t have any direct competitors in the Lubbock market, the advertising would be used for educational material addressing issues like energy conservation, said Rose.

The council is not scheduled to discuss the issue during the regular session at its meeting today, but will discuss issues relating to the state’s Turn Back program.

City Council meeting

The council moved to postpone a vote on the program until more information could be provided to all of the members.

The state-proposed program allows cities with a population of 50,000 or more to return the jurisdiction of roads to the local municipalities. Though participation is optional, Robertson proposed to the council last week that Lubbock be among the first to volunteer.

The mayor said his reasoning behind his pitch is that he believes TxDOT will eventually require all the cities to take back those proposed roads, but volunteering early will ensure the best deal for Lubbock residents.

The agreement the council is to vote on at its next meeting outlines a five-year timetable for transferring back the roads.

If approved by both the council and TxDOT, the state would ensure the roadways are in good condition and pay for 100 percent of the maintenance in 2014, and decrease TxDOT’s financial responsibility in 20 percent increments over the next five years — a total of $6.1 million.

Public comment

Outside of council discussion, some citizens are concerned about their right to speak during the meetings.

The council has been airing the public comment session along with the rest of the meeting on the city’s broadcast channel and online for several years, but that portion is not actually supposed to be included, according to a 2005 City Council resolution.

“It’s kind of gotten out of hand. We’ve got several people, it looked like to me, that were intentionally using the three minutes we allow the public to come and give the council their concerns as a method to put a message out to the community that has nothing to do with our meeting,” said Robertson.

The council began enforcing the 2005 rule at its last meeting, and will continue to do so for at least the time being, Gibson said.

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The Mayor is wrong about censoring the commenters at city hall, He believes he knows better and what are appropriate comments. He has denied the viewig public other people's points of view by not airing them on channel 2., To me this is very akin to what Mussolini, Franco and the late Hugo Chavez would do. i ;guess his new name should be Fidel Castro. Surely, he believes the public at large are his employees., He is the boss. Mayor Robertson YOUR FIRED. Next election we will have a NEW MAYOR.

How interesting that this mayor and this council will use a 2005 rule to MUTE the citizens' comment and keep it off the air on ch. 2 sooo conveniently now that he/the mayor and Hernandez are up for re-election. Out of sight, out of mind,right? What next? "Let them eat cake"? This mayor's and this council's tactics are chilling to say the least.

Furthermore, does the city council and mayor believe that they have the right to censor the public's comments on the way they spend millions and our PUBLIC TAX MONEY? We the public have the right to comment/criticize the self-proclaimed 'DEITIES ON THE DAIS'! This is way out of line...TIME TO DO SOME HOUSECLEANING at city hall.